SoSe 2025

In diesem Basisseminar wenden wir uns der Darstellung und Verwendung von Wetter in den Künsten ab 1800 zu. Ausgangspunkt wird die Romantik und die Industrialisierung sein - hier zeigt sich die interdisziplinäre Herangehensweise, die innerhalb des Seminars verfolgt wird. Verschiedene Strömungen und Medien wie beispielsweise der Impressionismus und die Land Art oder Fotografie und Spielfilm werden hier kunsthistorisch, aber auch politisch und kulturhistorisch beleuchtet. Welche Rolle spielt das Klima (oder die Klimakrise)? Wie wird auf den menschlichen Einfluss auf das Klima Bezug genommen? Wie werden Darstellungen von Wetter verwendet?

Wir wenden uns zahlreichen Werken zu, die die Zeitspanne von ca. 1800 bis 2024 umfassen und erforschen Hintergrund und Auswirkung von Wetter und Klima in den Künsten.

Mit der großen Dichte an Universitäten in Nordrhein-Westfalen geht auf der Rhein-Ruhr-Schiene von Bonn über Köln, Düsseldorf, Bochum bis Dortmund eine versammelte Kompetenz an Mittelalter-Kunsthistoriker:innen einher.

Mit der Idee einer Ringvorlesung möchten wir mit der Vielfalt der von den Kolleg:innen vertretenen Schwerpunkte auch die Vielgestaltigkeit der mittelalterlichen Kunstgeschichte sichtbar machen – mit den dazugehörigen Gesichtern – und anhand dieser Einblicke in die jeweiligen Themenfelder zugleich eine Art ‚Überblicksvorlesung‘ über die mittelalterliche Kunstgeschichte geben (wenngleich diese natürlich viele Themengebiete auslassen muss).

Wir freuen uns auf Beiträge von Susanne Wittekind (Uni Köln), Barbara Welzel und Kirsten Lee Bierbaum (TU Dortmund), Ulrich Rehm und Margarita Voulgaropoulou (RUB), Harald Wolter - von dem Knesebeck und Hanna Jacobs (Uni Bonn) sowie Andrea von Hülsen-Esch, Julia Trinkert, Sascha Köhl und Jürgen Wiener (HHU).

Many medieval and early modern works of art and buildings have been preserved in Germany, Poland, Estonia, Finland and Sweden and belong to the canon of European art history. Impressive cathedrals, secular buildings, historic old towns as well as iconic works of art are world-famous.

There are countless examples located outside of prominent cultural centres and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, that are no less important and worthy of preservation. Today, this claim faces several challenges in a changing society. The interest in researching and preserving even lesser-known medieval art comes up against social, political, and financial interests. How can this cultural heritage be kept alive as a bridge between the past and the present for all people? What is the role of art history and the humanities in general?

During the Spring School these questions are to be discussed and further developed from a transdisciplinary perspective and with great expertise. To this end, the Spring School addresses students in various formats to further sharpen and concretise related topics as cultural continuity, historical understanding, aesthetic experience, artistic development and tourist and cultural attractions.

The exchange will therefore take place between the two units Empathy and search for new meanings in exhibiting Medieval and Early Modern artworks and Transformations of medieval objects.

The Empathy Unit’s aim is to reflect on the possible ways of curating (im)perfect objects and the interpretive potential of the artworks that can no longer be repaired or reconstructed. Objects from the past, often fragmented and broken, have been collected and displayed since humankind started to reflect upon its own history. Nevertheless, a tendency is still common in modern museum practices, where curators only employ severely damaged artworks as a visual device to throw viewers off balance and tell stories about natural disasters and wars. Consequently, these objects and their stories serve only as an illustration of a grand narrative. Moreover, following the ‘affective turn’ in museology and the strategies of ‘affective curatorship’ (as termed by Marzia Varutti), we will revolve around how these types of objects elicit empathy and emotional responses from curators and visitors alike. We will draw attention to selected contemporary curatorial strategies and museum practices that force us to look for meaning in broken, incomplete and not necessarily beautiful objects.

The Transformations Unit looks at and investigates the fates of medieval art in non-Catholic church spaces focusing on the current situation: Medieval art belonging to the Roman Catholic times is often on sight also in Protestant church spaces. This applies to many countries and regions around the Baltic Sea, which turned to Lutheranism in the beginning of the sixteenth century. During the following centuries the artworks were treated in numerous ways: whereas some were destroyed or tossed aside, some were reworked and modified to fit the new taste or ideals. Topics might include alterations of objects and their role in the (church) space, relocation of musealized medieval art to churches, the concept of repatriation, the role of the church for today’s societies and the original location for a Roman Catholic devotional object etc.

The discussion on tasks, challenges and perspectives will lead to cross-cutting subjects such as social and digital transformation, the decline in knowledge of one's own history and interest in culture, but also the importance of sustainable (digital?) education programs, marginalized target groups or regional cultural tourism.

The first virtual course session will then take place on 28 March, where we will discuss the topics of the Spring School. Until the meeting in Greifswald, you will prepare the topics in your groups through self-study. The presentation of your results will take place during the on-site seminar phases and during the two excursions to Stralsund and Rostock.

When industrialization in the 19th century fundamentally changed living and production conditions, schools of arts and crafts emerged as innovative centres for art education. Initiatives for the founding of arts and crafts schools originated from the major world fairs with the aim of boosting international competition in the fields of art, crafts and design. The first being the Great Exhibition, which took place at Crystal Palace in London’s Hyde Park in 1851, followed by the Great London Exposition in 1851 and the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867. The schools’ curricula included teaching techniques involved in, for example, ornamental and figure drawing, modeling, sculpting and decorative painting as well as special architecture classes. Around the same time arts and crafts museums were founded to promote good taste to the public, often in conjunction with close institutional ties to arts and crafts schools. Around 1900 arts and crafts schools began to focus on the connection between art, craftsmanship and technology whilst considering the interaction between material, object and space and, thus, becoming a driving force behind avant-garde movements.